Dying at the Hands of a God
by Nikara Ross
Summary: Kassandra Santos is a regular sophomore-or so she thinks. When her normal life takes a surprising twist down a darker road than she could've ever imagined, she learns how to find the light in every situation and what it takes to be a hero.
1. Intro

While this does contain some characters from Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Heroes of Olympus, this was meant to take place after the events of in which the seven participated in, and consists mainly of OCs and such. While this may not be what you're looking for, if you do decide to read it, I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

You might have heard of me, and you might think of me as stupid. Trust me, at the beginning of it all, I had no idea what I was getting into.

My name is Kassandra Santos. At the time, I was living in a small house in which I had one room, my mother had one room, and then we had a kitchen with a TV. I went to a public school, and my hobbies consisted of swimming, studying, and listening to a song that was not in itself horribly depressing but made me horribly depressed. I am the not-so-average nerdy outcast with an athletic side. I'm a little on the pale side, with green eyes and dark red hair. I have a small scar that's just a slice from the chin heading towards my eyes, about an inch and a half long from a freak accident from when I was a kid.

I usually donned the mad-scientist-in-training look, with a white, very plain dress shirt, jeans, and a long-sleeve black t-shirt. While I was an honor student, I did have a case of ADHD, and, if I stared at the page for long enough, the words would start to start to float of the page and do turns and flips and cartwheels and whatnot. Nonetheless, I was still in a good grade range.

My friends consisted of those two or three people in the grade who happened to be friends with everyone, the team captain of the swimming team (a perky blonde girl with a social life that makes my socialization look like solitary confinement), and a boy named Ruben Cardona. He spends a lot of time tinkering with machines. He's got a happy-go-lucky kind of attitude and spends a lot of time grinning and making jokes. I had never asked, but he had a sort of complexion that made me infer that his ancestors had lived somewhere in Latin America. He had dark brown, wavy hair and brown eyes.

I'm going to warn you right now, if you think you're normal, double check. And triple check before you go pointing fingers at other people, because their lives might be harder than you think.

Be careful when you read, because sometimes people lost between the pages of this story don't come back. Because this isn't just my story. This is their story.

And this might be your story, too.


	2. Math Class Almost Kills Me

High school: People have faced worse (though some don't like to admit it). At first, my high school experience was okay. I spent endless hours doing anything I felt like: constructing schematics for different things, swimming, reading, and anything else any other teenager might find themselves occupied with.

Ruben and I sat next to each other 3rd period, which was math class. We were both a grade ahead, so we ended up in a junior math class, which was weird considering that Ruben was completely incapable of sitting still for more than five minutes.

Thirty minutes later, we were both done with our work somehow, and Ruben was, not to my surprise, tinkering with a little machine on his desk, kind of spherical-looking. I was about to ask him what he was up to when my math classroom was invaded by a vampire.

It all started when the captain of the swim team, Brianna, stood up in the middle of class to ask me for help with my homework or something. At least that was what I thought.

What I thought changed quickly when she pulled out a knife, right in front of me. The idiots behind me who were usually talking or goofing off during class started yelling and screaming, which caught Ruben's attention. I didn't say anything, just started getting out of my seat and backing down the aisle. Ruben had a similar expression to what I had on my face, but he just sat there, observing the situation like he would a calculation.

I stopped backing up when I reached the back of the row. Just then, Brianna leaped at me with the knife in her hand.

First, I fell backwards and onto the floor out of sheer _I don't know what to do anymore_. Then I raised my right leg for reasons unknown. Really, all I knew was that I was too freaked out to actually understand anything that I was doing.

But, apparently, whatever I was doing had been the right thing to do, because I managed to kick Brianna into the wall behind me. After letting the shock wear off for about two seconds, I shot back up, on the brink of hysterics. Brianna shot me a glare, and all I could think was, _Man, if looks could kill._

She was blocking the exit to the classroom and she knew it. She grinned wickedly, which was when I noticed she had… fangs.

She started at me again, charging, I slid over one of the desks, falling ungracefully into the next aisle, right behind Ruben, who was jabbing at something with his screwdriver.

Brianna, with her fangs and knife, came at me once more. I was prepared to leap over the desk at the last minute again, but it turned out that I didn't need to. Ruben stepped between us, facing towards Brianna with a sword made of bronze. She ran right into the blade.

She had barely hit it when she exploded into dust.

I subconsciously took two steps back. Ruben turned towards me, but he only had his screwdriver in his hand.

"Ruben," I said, still about to fall into a series of hysterics as I felt the urge to laugh rising up my throat, "What was that? What's going on?"  
Ruben sighed. "I'm not supposed to tell you."  
"It was a vampire, wasn't it?"  
Ruben half-grinned in my direction. "Kind of. You're closer than I ever was before somebody told me."  
"Told you what?" I asked again.

"Again, that's not for me to say," Ruben said, glancing at the dust on the floor, "Really, all you need to know is that every monster for miles is looking for you now."  
I fell back into a chair. "Monsters. That's it. I'm hallucinating. I read too much fiction last night."

Ruben laughed at me, and I shot him a look.

"Don't worry," he said, looking out the window, "We'll make it out of here."

"I thought you just said that every monster for miles was looking for me."  
"Well, yeah, but we'll make it. C'mon."

So I stood up and followed Ruben down the hallways of my school, which now seemed completely different.

"How was it that nobody noticed Brianna was a monster or something?" I asked.

"It's a long story."  
"Thanks, that clears things up."  
"You're not making this any easier, Kass."

"I'm not making this any easier? I was just attacked by the vampire swim captain."  
"Point taken," he said, grinning, "But it'll be a little bit before I can say anything."  
Frustrated, I shut up.

We somehow got in a taxi after walking for about an hour, in which we did not exchange a single word.

"Here, you can stop here," Ruben said, handing the driver some money. We got out in a forested area just before a hill. The question _Where are we?_ popped into my head, but I had a feeling that was something that I couldn't know yet, just like the rest of the story behind my vampiric swim captain.

"Did you ever take Latin classes?" Ruben asked.

"Yeah. Why?"  
"I hope you remember a lot."  
"Ruben, _what's going on?_"  
"Just a little bit longer, Kass."

I sighed, but didn't argue as we started to make our way up a hill. We hit the top, and Ruben grinned in the direction of the place in front of us. I just stared out, my mouth slightly open in shock.

"Welcome to camp," Ruben said.

It was huge, and, well, definitely not your average summer camp. There were strawberry fields, a huge farmhouse, and several diverse buildings. I could see many people, mostly teenagers, populated the camp.

"Try not to pass out," Ruben said as I stared.

"Well," I said, "I'm trying."  
"Here, let's go into the Big House before you pass out from shock," he said.

"Good call," I said, nodding and following him.

Turns out this so-called "Big House" was actually the huge, four story farmhouse I had seen before. Ruben lead me in until we came to a table, seated at which were the contrasted set of people I had ever seen in my life. There was a rather large, grumpy-looking man with grey hair, who put me a little on edge when I walked into the room, examining me like he had seen me before and I was just an annoyance to him now. Then there was a taller, slender figure with scraggly brown hair and what seemed to be the tips of horns poking out of the mess of curly hair. Then there was a man in a motorized wheelchair, sitting with the blankest expression in the world, the perfect poker face, which made me look at their hands and their were indeed playing a card game.

"Excuse me," Ruben said, stepping aside so that they could look at me, "I've brought her."  
"Well done, Ruben," the man in the wheelchair said.

"Yes," the other man said, "Another one of them. Hurrah."

The man in the wheelchair sighed and looked at me.

"I'm sorry. He's been doing this for quite a while longer than he'd like to. My name's Chiron, and this is Mr. D. Please, take a seat."

Chiron was the name of trainer of Hercules, and, well, after the horns on the one guy's head and the vampire, I was almost halfway to believing him. I shook his hand.

"Kassandra Santos," I said. I looked at Mr. D and decided that he didn't look eager to shake my hand, so I sat down as I was told, and Ruben sat down next to me. The guy on the other side of me with the horns extended his hand, and I shook it.

"Ryon," he said.

"Kass," I replied, "It's a pleasure to meet you."  
"The pleasure is mine."

"So, I suppose you're traumatized," Mr. D said, "Freaked out. Wondering what happened and why Ruben brought you here of all places."  
"Mr. D-" Chiron said.

"No, he's right," I said, "I'm curious as to why I was attacked in my math classroom and why I'm at this camp."  
Chiron looked at me, and so did everyone else. Then Chiron cleared his throat and spoke.

"What if I told you that you were a demigod?"  
I examined the faces of everyone in the room, and remembered Brianna, and Ryon's horns and Ruben's sword.

"It probably wouldn't be a stretch to say that I'd believe you after a while."


	3. I Become The Pine Cone Warrior of Camp

Chiron cleared his throat again, disrupting the silence.

"Do you mean that?" Ryon said, knitting his eyebrows together.  
"Well, I'm don't know if I have a choice, whether or not I want to believe that," I said, "I'm not sure how much being a demigod explains, but, I mean, you can't explain what happened to me or what I'm seeing with just nature or science. I could be hallucinating, but… I don't think I should just wait until I wake up."

They stared at me some more. I felt uncomfortable sitting in my chair, so I fidgeted a little bit. Mr. D sighed.

"Well," Ryon said, "Aren't you different."

"Ryon," Mr. D said, "Lead the girl to the mess hall. Ruben, answer her questions."  
"Yes, sir," Ryon said. After managing to shuffle out of our chairs, we started walking towards the door. Chiron and Mr. D went back to their game, but I couldn't help but feel that someone else was watching me as I left. Subconsciously, I stared at the corner as Ruben and Ryon made their way towards the door. Just as I decided it was time to start moving again, a guy my age popped out of the shadows, one eyebrow raised and his mouth in a crooked half-smile.

"Well, Ryon," he said, "You weren't kidding."  
Ryon and Ruben jumped, spinning around to look at him. He had black hair, dark eyes, and pale skin. He wore jeans and a black hoodie and studied me with great interest.

"Don't do that!" Ryon said, "Darren, how many times do we have to tell you to not just appear like that?"  
"I wouldn't have have appeared if she hadn't noticed me," Darren said, "But she did."  
Everyone in the room was staring at me.

"How'd you know that he was there?" Ruben asked. I shook my head.

"I don't know."  
Darren glanced down at the floor and shrugged.

"Well, at any rate, you're the first mortal to notice me in years. Ryon was right," Darren said, "You are different."

Darren was staring at me, so I stared back, and I'm pretty sure everyone in the room was staring at us.  
"Well, we should get going," Ryon said, saving me from the situation in itself.

I nodded and followed him out the door.

Ryon left us at the mess hall, an outdoor pavilion with several stone picnic tables, surrounded by white columns on a hill overlooking the sea. Ruben and I sat there for a while, not saying anything.

"So, I'm half…" I felt the word get caught in my throat. Ruben saw this and finished my sentence for me.

He nodded. "God."  
"We're talking, like, Greek gods, right? Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera… Them, right?"  
"Yeah."  
"How do you know who you're parent is?"  
"They send a sign."  
"Oh."  
"Yeah," Ruben said, looking at me, "It usually comes pretty soon after you get to camp."  
"And… You're…?"  
"Son of Hephaestus. God of metalworking, volcanoes, fire, stuff like that."  
"I should've guessed," I said, smiling. He grinned back.

We talked about mostly normal stuff for hours on end, although he did explain some demigod stuff every once in a while.

Later, I heard something like a horn, and people started coming towards the mess hall. Before it could get awkward, Chiron came towards me with a welcoming smile. He led me up to the front of the room, and everything fell silent.

"As you all know, tonight is capture the flag," Chiron said, "However, before that, I'd like to introduce our newest demigod: Kassandra Santos. She is currently undetermined. Will any cabin step forward to take her in until she's determined?"  
It was quiet for a moment. I looked at all the different tables, apparently separated by cabin. Some had the entire table full, whereas others had very few. Darren's and another person's had only one person, and then there were only three at another table. Except for the tables with only one person, everyone was looking at one specific person at their table, their cabin leader or something, expectantly.

"We'll take her," a girl said, standing up, She had blonde hair and blue eyes, and looked like someone you'd expect to see on TV. I noticed she had been sitting at a table with two boys, both with blonde hair also.

"Nancy, daughter of Zeus," Chiron announced, "Anyone else?"

People at the tables starting muttering.

Darren stood up.  
"I'll take her."  
Everything fell dead silent.  
"Darren, son of Hades."

It stayed silent.  
"Well," Mr. D said, coming up behind me, "Looks like we have our two teams for capture the flag.

* * *

So, it was Zeus vs. Hades. On the Zeus cabin's side was Athena cabin, the Hermes cabin, and the Apollo cabin, three fairly large cabins, along with a few others. On Darren's side was pretty much anyone else: Poseidon, Aphrodite, Ares, and Hephaestus. Chiron gave me a choice, and, even though they were slightly outnumbered, I was on Darren and Ruben's side.

Chiron explained the rules: no killing or maiming. He would serve as a referee of sorts and a medic. We were fitted in armor and given swords. Honestly, I promised to manage in my jeans and brand-new Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. I could probably outrun anyone wearing armor, that stuff was so heavy. Then I got a sword, which I had never used before, and managed to make my way next to Ruben, who grinned at me.  
"Looking good, new girl," he said.

"Thanks," I replied.  
"Oh my gods, Ruben, stop flirting!" someone called.  
"You're one to talk!" he called back, still grinning. A bunch of "ohhhs" arose from the other Hephaestus cabin kids.

"Burn!" somebody else called.

I was already feeling right at home.

We started splitting up when the conch horn sounded.

"So," I said to Ruben, "What do we do?"  
Ruben gave me a blank look.  
"Improvise, of course."  
"Alright. Come with me."  
Ruben shrugged and followed behind me. Since it was getting dark, I stayed low and went through the forest, Ruben doing the same. They had their flag positioned in a tight cluster of trees, guarded by two people. I went to the far left and picked up a few pine cones. I chucked one as far as I could, about forty feet in the opposite direction. I picked up some more pine cones as they started in the opposite direction, and slowly started towards the flag.

I stopped as I heard a soft groan by the flag. Ruben had already started backing up when I realized who it was. I threw a few more pinecones and rushed to Darren's side, and Ruben followed.

"Darren, Darren," I said. His eyes went out of focus, "Daren, look at me. Are you okay?"  
His eyes slid in and out of focus again as he tried to focus on my face.  
"Who are you?"  
"It's me, Kass-uh, I mean, Kassandra."  
"Oh, yeah, of course. Grab the flag. I'll get up."  
I scowled. "You idiot. Are you hurt?"  
Darren tried to get up, then stumbled back to the ground. "Yeah, they got me. I'm okay though."  
Scowling still, I helped Darren up. Slowly and quietly, Ruben held the flag as we supported Darren, going back towards our side. We were about halfway to our side when we heard an angry outcry.

"Surprise, suckers," Ruben said, grinning. We kept walking when we heard some shuffling behind us.

"Keep going," I said, drawing my sword. Ruben and Darren turned towards me.

"You don't have any armor," Darren pointed out, "Or a shield."  
"I know," I said, "But I can run faster than you two, and, looking at your state, can probably throw a few more pinecones."  
Darren stared at me for a minute, his dark eyes examining me.  
"Go," I told Ruben. He nodded and started helping Darren towards the line again.  
I turned to face what ended up being about three Hermes kids (I was glad it wasn't the Apollo cabin, because I wouldn't have stood a chance against their archers). I took inventory of what I had: A sword, two pine cones, and, if I was truly desperate, my two hair ties and shoes. The Hermes kids almost passed me, who was hidden in the forest. I threw a pinecone, and it bounced of one kid's head and hit another's shoulder, causing them all to stop. I silently raised my fist (the one with the pine cone in it) in the air, my way of celebrating the two-birds-with-one-pine cone hit. Then I purposely ruffled some branches by me.

I quietly entered the area where the Hermes kids were while they passed by me, not too closely, to examine the branches I had shaken.  
I threw my last pine cone for good measure before dashing towards our side again. Ruben was ready to defend the flag, Darren, and himself when I went over to them.  
"More pinecones?" Ruben said, noticing my empty hand.

"Yep," I said, getting on Darren's other side and helping Ruben carry him over the line.

About thirty seconds later, we crossed the line, and did our team ever notice us when the flag shimmered from gold to black. First, only one person cheered, and then they all cheered at us. Somewhere along in the celebration we lost Darren to Chiron, who was bandaging Darren and feeding him something that I couldn't made out.

Somebody asked me how I did it, and before I could stutter anything, Ruben replied:  
"She embraced the forces of nature, my friends, and led us to victory."  
They stared at me, some slack jawed, some questioningly.  
"I threw some pine cones," I translated.

There was some laughing, some cheering, and suddenly we were lost in the excited chatter of our teammates. I tuned out for a minute as we walked to the sing-a-long the Apollo kids led. I stopped and turned back for a minute, telling Ruben to go on ahead.  
Darren appeared out of the shadows, the nearby campfire illuminating his pale face, but not in a intimidating or unattractive way.  
"Not bad, Kassandra Santos," Darren said, his voice quiet, "Not bad at all."


	4. A God's Phone Stops My History Lesson

And so I ended up in Darren's cabin. I soon learned that I was the first demigod to be offered to be housed by the Zeus or Hades cabins in a long time.

Nancy wasn't happy. She would glare at me. Behind her back, her brothers would smile and occasionally give me a thumbs up. When he was around, Ruben would salute back.

Being in the Hades cabin wasn't bad, especially considering I was half the people in it.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Darren asked.

"I guess you could say that. And you don't seem to either."

He nodded.

There were a lot of activities at camp. I wasn't bad at most of them, but I wasn't good, either. Usually certain demigods had certain skills. Apollo kids were great at archery. Hephaestus kids were great with the forge. But I seemed to lack any amazing heroic skill.

A week came and went without any sign from my godly parent. People looked at me strangely by week two. By week three I was getting pretty depressed.

"You're getting good," Darren said when I disarmed him. I nodded. I hadn't spoken in four days.

Darren and I fought again. He pushed me harder now, but soon I was holding my sword point to his throat.

"Not bad," he said. I nodded in thanks and sheathed my sword.

"What do you say we try something more difficult?" Darren said. He didn't smile often, but he smirked now. I returned his smirk with a half-hearted smile, now intrigued.

I jumped, shocked, as a skeletal figure rose from the ground where we were training. I looked at Darren, who shrugged.

"It's a Hades thing."

I nodded. The skeletal warrior drew a sword similar to Darren's. We started to battle, but it wasn't long before I had taken down the skeletal warrior and had my sword at Darren's throat.  
Darren kept adding more and more of the skeletal warriors. At the end of the week, I was fighting him plus twenty.  
People came to watch. I had been pushed hard all day, and I wasn't about to stop.

Darren and I crossed swords, and the battle began. It all suddenly became so natural, every attack and block. By the time I had five down, Chiron came in with about half the camp.

I continued despite all the people watching me. I was drenched in sweat, exhausted, but I kept on fighting. Fighting felt natural then, as natural as walking and breathing. Everything seemed to slow down and the move to make was obvious, coming to me faster than usual.

Darren was on the ground, my swordpoint at his neck, looking impressed. I sheathed my sword and helped him up before glancing around. There was a look of plain shock on the faces of the campers. But they weren't looking at me.

They were looking above me.

Then, one by one, they started kneeling. Nancy looked infuriated. Darren was smirking. Ruben had a grin that stretched across his entire face. I looked above me.

Spinning above my head was a green hologram of a trident. It shone brightly, making every other light in the area look dark by comparison.  
So that was what a sign looked like.  
Chiron began to speak.

"Hail, Kassandra Santos, Daughter of the Sea God-"  
He stopped abruptly, looking above my head again, bewildered. So did everyone else after realizing Chiron had stopped.

A pillar of holograms were lining up above my head. I stared in shock. They were all spinning different colors in unison.

Then, all at once, they disappeared.

There was an outburst of surprise and anger. Nancy was screaming and trying to come at me, but her brothers were holding her back. Ruben stared at me with wide eyes.

Chiron later managed to get everyone under control, even the fuming Nancy. He turned to me and bowed even deeper than before.  
"Hail, Kassandra Santos, Descendant of the Gods."

Everyone dropped into a kneeling position, even deeper than the last. It was dead silent.

"Please stand," I managed to choke out. Everyone did. People looked at me as if I were some sort of mistake and started leaving.

Nancy stormed over to me, screaming. I wasn't listening, just staring at her in shock. Chiron was trying to tell her to stop. She shut her mouth, but started running at me. I managed to flip her onto the ground, where she rushed to scramble up before a sword point was at her throat. I looked next to me, where Darren was standing.  
"You were saying?" he asked. She simply gulped and stood before running out the door.  
"Thanks," I told Darren. He smirked and nodded.

I looked around. Only Chiron, Darren, Ruben, Ryon and I were left.

"What just happened?" I asked.

"You're asking us?" Ruben said.

"Well," Ryon said, "About ten different gods just claimed you as their child."

I looked to Chiron for answers.

"Come," he said, "We'll discuss this elsewhere."

* * *

We were back in the Big House, sitting down at the table. Thankfully, Mr. D was on Olympus, so I didn't have to deal with him. Chiron looked at me.  
"You don't have any idea what happened back there?" he asked. I shook my head.  
"Not the slightest."  
Chiron sighed. There was a sudden light behind me. I felt Darren, who was seated to my right, grab my arm, and saw him grab Ruben's arm. Next thing I knew, the three of us were invisible.

"It's alright, it's just me. You can restore your visibility. Along with your friends', of course.

"Lord Hermes!" Chiron exclaimed, bowing. I yanked my arm out of Darren's grasp, kneeling on the ground and bowing my head. Ryon, Darren, and Ruben followed my example.  
"Rise," Hermes said. He had light blonde hair and fair skin. He donned pale yellow robes of sorts and held a caduceus in his hand. I did as I was told, getting to my feet along with Ruben, Ryon, and Darren.

"Kassandra Santos?"

"That would be her, my lord," Ryon said, pointing at me. I stood a little straighter.

"Kassandra," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder, "I have much to tell you. So much that I wish I could explain it all to you. I suppose you're wondering about your ancestry?"  
"I am, Lord Hermes," I replied.

"Your father is Poseidon," he said. I nodded.  
"She was claimed by several gods though, my lord," Darren said.  
"And your grandfather is Hades," Hermes continued, "And your great-grandfather is Zeus. And your great-great-grandmother is… Well, do you see what I'm getting at? Your fate is so deeply intertwined, your blood so much golden ichor, that, well, you are a bit of every Olympian in your own regard."  
"But… Don't demigods usually die after a while in the world?" I asked, "Hunted down by monsters?"

"Ah," Hermes said, nodding, "But, the amount of knowledge demigods know about their godly parents and their chances of survival are directly linked. Your family has been ignorant for generations. Not only that, but the monsters have been surprisingly scarce since Roman and Greek camps have met."  
I wondered what the Greek and Roman camps meeting was, but I decided not to ask.  
"So… I'm in even more danger than any of my ancestors because not only am I more demigod than any of my ancestors, but I'm also more knowledgeable about the Olympians themselves?"  
"Precisely," Hermes replied, "However, you may be more powerful. The more powerful, the more at risk, the more you know, the stronger your scent is. Monsters pick up on these things-One moment please."  
The caduceus in his hand shrunk into the size of a smartphone. When I looked closer, I realized it _was_ a smartphone.

"Oh, Hades," Hermes said, "I'm afraid I must take my leave now. Until we meet again!"  
And just like that, in another flash of blinding light, he was gone.  
"Kassandra," Chiron said. I turned around to look at him.

"You do realize you're practically-" Ryon started.  
"Dead?" I asked, "Yeah, I know."  
"Kass, as long as I'm around, you're not practically dead," Ruben said. For once, he was dead serious.

"Same goes here," Darren said, smirking. I sighed and nodded. There was a small silence.  
"Kassandra," Chiron said, "You're practically a goddess in your own right."  
I shook my head.  
"No. I'm mortal. I'm a demigod."  
And I left without another word.


End file.
